The new Ford GT finally notched its first win!

WE DID IT AMERICA! We beat Ferrari! And no, I’m not talking about way back in the 1966 Le Mans race, I’m talking about last weekend.

Ok. So it wasn’t exactly Le Mans, but the EcoBoost Ford GT did just notch its first win at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California. A Ferrari 488 GTE contender came in second. Does this mean America’s favorite supercar is going to win Le Mans again? Well…you might want to pump the breaks a bit on that.

When Ford announced a new GT back at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show AND that they were going to race it in Le Mans again; we were all hit with a barrage of nostalgia and national pride. After-all the An American car company was going to take over 24 Hours of Le Mans again and say ‘suck it’ to all those foreign wannabes.

Still, the LM GTE Pro Class is congested with V8s, so ironically, the new Ford GT could still show them what Ford’s little 6 cylinders engines can do. Unfortunately for the Blue Oval, they’ve only had a string of failures to add to the EcoBoost’s shaky reputation.

They suffered teething issues at their first race in Daytona; causing one of them to get stuck in sixth gear. While another needed brake line repairs and another experienced tire failures due to a broken rear diffuser.

Not a great start, but they still posted the fastest lap in the GTLM class of the race at 1:44.947 when they were working.

After Daytona they had gear selection issues in the World Endurance Championship and another GT caught on fire during FP1 at Long Beach. So we have to wonder; will Ford be ready for Le Mans in just 1 month’s time or are they just in for an ass-kicking by Chevy?

Well, Ford’s big win last weekend showed more than just a bit of promise. During the 2 hour and 40 minute race, the winning GT only had to fuel up once, while competitors had to pit two or three times. Still, Laguna Seca is only 1/12th of Le Mans duration. Look towards next weekend’s WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps this Saturday to see if the Blue Oval’s durability holds up.

Do you think the struggling Ford GT has a shot at Le Mans next month? What we do know is this thing has been fast as hell while Ford has been able to keep it operational.

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